I'm so glad I resisted the urge to tease Vikings fans- made living with the debacle of the Packers game a little less humiliating. Wish I had the skill to do a Timby rant right now- the Packers sucked in every possible way.

On the plus side, I was playing against the Packers defense in the TrekBBS league and they scored -6 points. Secured my win.

Denver seriously benefitted from playing the Chiefs today... if they had gone up against any real team, Denver would have gotten themselves torn a new asshole. Fortuantely, the Chiefs seem to have an endzone allergy, which let the Broncos survive a pretty ugly offensive outing.

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The defensive outing wasn't much better. Until KC stopped running the ball because it was working so well for them, the Broncos were having a lot of trouble tackling anybody. Not Chargers bad, but still bad.

I'm shocked the Bucs didn't get blown out by the Falcons. Either the Bucs are pretty damned good this year for a young team or the Falcons are overrated.

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Both are true, IMO.

As for the Eagles, their inability to win at home against a lousy Carolina team cost me my weekly confidence pool. I saw Panthers/Eagles and automatically assumed the Eagles would annihilate the Panthers at home...wrong. I was 14-2, getting only the Seachickens and Eagles wrong; unfortunately I dumped a lot of points into the Seachickens game.

Looks like they're going to let Kaepernick's streak ride this week. If he wins this week that'll be three in a row(not including the game he replaced Smith in), better than any other Niners QB's opening streak in some 30 or 40ish years.

I really do feel bad for Alex. With all the crap he's taken his entire career, I'm really surprised he's not pissed off about this. I do think Kaepernick is the right choice (More aggressive, might get the 49ers over that hump) but man I am tired of seeing Smith get shit on.

I give Smith all the credit in the world for soldiering on, and he's made some improvements in his game, but even if he didn't have the whole "seven offensive coordinators in seven years" thing hanging over him, it wouldn't change the fact that he's basically only capable of a limited number of throws from about 15 yards in. It's easy to say that Smith has been having a phenomenal season, numbers-wise, but that's traditional numbers based upon having a running game, run-blocking offensive line (Oh, God, imagine Cutler behind that line), and coaching staff that's superior to everyone else in a passing-oriented league. His advanced numbers only take some of that context out and they drop him into the average to slightly above average (12th in DYAR, 20th in WPA, 15th in PFF player grade, and so on). Using some common sense for team context drops him even further.

I do wonder what he'd be if he hadn't suffered that shoulder injury.

In any event, look at it this way: Smith is going to get cut (no one will trade anything substantial for the last two years of that contract) and the dude is gonna get paid, considering how many teams are desperate for quarterbacks. Look at the paydays that Matt Cassel and Kevin Kolb are getting, for Christ's sake.

Even though Smith is getting a fairly raw deal right now, Harbaugh actually did him a huge favor by giving him another chance. Smith is going to be able to go out onto the market with the world seeing that, while he won't exactly set the world on fire, he can play quality, efficient football. There will be a team out there that needs a starter or someone to compete for the starting job, and the last season and a half have likely helped turn Smith into a viable candidate for that instead of being forever doomed to the role of second-rate backup.

In any event, look at it this way: Smith is going to get cut (no one will trade anything substantial for the last two years of that contract) and the dude is gonna get paid, considering how many teams are desperate for quarterbacks. Look at the paydays that Matt Cassel and Kevin Kolb are getting, for Christ's sake.

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Who's desperate for quarterbacks of Alex Smith's caliber this year (especially teams that weren't interested in Alex Smith LAST year)?

Just looking at the teams that have poor quarterback play: Arizona didn't want Smith last year. Miami is set with Tannehill. The Jets are stupidly set with Sanchez/Tebow (all while Greg McElroy sits 3rd string and wasn't even on the active roster on Thanksgiving... stupid Jets). Cassel as you say is set.